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US 7,222,852 B2Granted
Method, apparatus and article employing multiple machine-readable indicia on playing cards
AssigneeBall Gaming International, Inc.
InventorsRichard Soltys, Richard Huizinga
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A stacked set of playing cards are supported to expose an information bearing portion bearing a first machine-readable indicia and an information bearing portion bearing a second machine-readable indicia, such that each of the first and second machine-readable indicia from a number of cards are read by at least one reader. The second machine-readable indicia may provide redundancy, or may be related to the first machine-readable indicia to allow the authentication of the playing card.
Claims24
A device for identifying playing cards in a stack of playing cards, the device comprising:
- a first card support surface to supportingly engage at least a portion of a long edge of each of a number of playing cards in the stack of playing cards, a second card support surface extending at an angle to the first card supporting surface to supportingly engage at least a portion of a short edge of each of the number of playing cards in the stack of playing cards, and a third card support surface for engagingly supporting a surface of an outermost one of the playing cards in the stack of playing cards, the third card support surface forming a first obtuse angle with the first card support surface and a second obtuse angle with respect to the second card support surface, the first, the second and the third card support surfaces forming a receptacle sized and dimensioned for receiving at least a portion of the stack of playing cards;
- and
- a reading mechanism positioned to read a first indicia extending along a long edge of the playing cards and a second indicia extending along a short edge of the playing cards.
A gaming table for playing a card game, comprising:
- a playing surface;
- a receptacle mounted in the playing surface of the gaming table, the receptacle sized and dimensioned for receiving at least a portion of a set of playing cards, the receptacle having a first card support surface to supportingly engage at least a portion of a first edge of each of a number of playing cards in the set of playing cards, a second card support surface extending at an angle to the first card supporting surface to supportingly engage at least a portion of a second edge of each of the number of playing cards in the set of playing cards and a third playing card support surface to supportingly engage at least a portion of a surface of one of the playing cards when the set of playing cards are stacked in the receptacle, a first window formed in the first card support surface to expose at least a portion of the first edge of each of at least some of the number of playing cards and a second window formed in the second card support surface to expose at least a portion of the second edge of each of at least some of the number of playing cards;
- and
- at least a first reader having a first field-of-view, at least a portion of the first field-of-view aligned with at least the first window.
1 more element
A method of reading information from playing cards, comprising:
- supportingly engaging a first edge of the set of playing cards at a first angle with respect to a horizontal table surface;
- supportingly engaging a second edge of the set of playing cards at a second angle with respect to the horizontal table surface;
- supportingly engaging a surface of an outermost one of the playing cards at a third angle with respect to the horizontal table surface to expose a first information carrying portion along the first edge of each of the playing cards and to expose a second information carrying potion along the second edge of each of the playing cards;
- and
- reading at least one of the first and the second information carrying potions of at least one of the playing cards.
2 more elements
A device for identifying playing cards, the device comprising:
- a receptacle sized and dimensioned for receiving at least a portion of a set of playing cards, the receptacle having a first card support surface to supportingly engage at least a portion of a first edge of each of a number of playing cards in the set of playing cards, a second card support surface extending at an angle to the first card supporting surface to supportingly engage at least a portion of a second edge of each of the number of playing cards in the set of playing cards and a third playing card support surface to supportingly engage at least a portion of a surface of one of the playing cards when the set of playing cards are stacked in the receptacle, a first window formed in the first card support surface to expose at least a portion of the first edge of each of at least some of the number of playing cards and a second window formed in the second card support surface to expose at least a portion of the second edge of each of at least some of the number of playing cards;
- and
- at least a first reader having a first field-of-view, at least a portion of the first field-of-view aligned with at least the first window.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.